ONLINE CASINO WORLD GAMING ASKED FOR SHARES TO BE SUSPENDED

Shares in online casino World Gaming were suspended today as the fall-out from new anti-gambling legislation in the United States continued.

World Gaming said it asked for its shares to be suspended “with immediate effect due to a fundamental uncertainty over its ability to continue trading”.

It followed the shock approval of new laws effectively banning online gambling in the US which sent World Gaming shares tumbling 92% last week.

The decision by Congress to back the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act deprived World Gaming of nearly all its revenues as more than 95% of its customers are based in the US.

Shares recovered slightly today but were suspended at 8.5p – valuing the firm at just £7.7m (€11.4m) million compared with the £56.6m (€83m) Sportingbet was planning to bid a week ago. Sportingbet pulled out of takeover talks following approval of the Bill.

There was a small rally in the online gaming sector today, despite confirmation that Party Poker owner PartyGaming will fall out of the FTSE 100 Index and 888 Holdings will be relegated from the FTSE 250 Index on Wednesday following last week’s dramatic fall in value.